Greetings to all of you. May the Lord always bless your lives.
We started the year off with all of us having Covid. It was not that strong and we were able to recuperate fast. It took about 15 days for all of us to get better, thanks to God. In January we also had some visitors from the church in Sucre. It was good to celebrate the coming of the New Year with them. We were blessed by their visit.
In February, Mark Scott came to visit us from our overseeing congregation, South Gate Church of Christ, in San Angelo, TX. It was my family’s first time meeting Mark and it was good to know him and talk about his visit to the Sucre Church, our dreams (as a family and as a team) for here in Tarija, our goals that we would like to realize as a church and how we would like to be a blessing for the people that we know.
In all the cities of Bolivia Carnival is celebrated. The week before Carnival starts, Compadres is celebrated. It is a custom that comes from Tarija in which the men of all ages go to their good friends to the announcement of fire crackers to give them a basket of sweet bread and other things to celebrate their friendship. There is a lot of joy in the celebration and the main plaza is shut down so that they can celebrate there and also drink a lot. This is the start of the celebrating of Carnival in Tarija. The next week the women have a turn as they celebrate Comadres. The giving of baskets is confirming that the friendship that they have is real and for life.
(Pictures are of our time in Sucre)
My family decided to travel to Sucre for main weekend of Carnival so that we could be a part of a retreat that the church in Sucre put together. It was a good and fun time. We studied about the harmony that God desires for His people based on Psalm 133. Saul and Yader (missionaries to the church in Tiquipaya, Cochabamba) gave the lessons. It was really a blessed time in every aspect- from the weather that was beautiful to the great food, the games- and above all the companionship and love between the brothers and sisters.
Greetings to all with thankfulness to God and you for your help and the way you bless our lives with your prayers. A hug for all. May God continue to bless and prosper your lives.
Grace and peace.